The moral precepts embodied in the Hippocratic oath, which physicians standardly affirm upon beginning medical practice, have long been considered the immutable bedrock of medical ethics, binding physicians in a moral community that reaches across temporal, cultural, and national barriers. Until very recently the promises expressed in that oath—for example to act physicians in ancient Greece and that for centuries it was not uniformly accepted by medical practitioners.
This historical issue may be dismissed at the outset as irrelevant to the oath’s current appropriateness. Regardless of the specific origin of its text—which, admittedly, is at best uncertain—those in each generation who critically appraise its content and judge it to express valid principles of medical ethics become, in a more meaningful within the confines of one’s expertise, which remains a necessary safeguard for patients’ safety and well-being.
What this question is testing
Your task
Pin down exactly what the question asks about the passage — a detail, the author's view, the structure, or the main point — before looking at the choices.
Common trap
Answers that restate a true detail from the passage but don't answer the specific question being asked.
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Anticipate the answer in your own words from the passage, then find the choice that matches that prediction.
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